Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield, 1920
The magic trick:
Creating a gentle, delicate happiness for the protagonist
Beware, we’ve got a tearjerker for you today.
Miss Brill goes to the park every Sunday to take in the scene. She people-watches, listens to the band, and generally enjoys the crowd. On this particular day, her enjoyment builds slowly and quietly. The story is very gentle – bordering dangerously close to boring. Miss Brill’s life is gentle bordering on the boring, so it makes sense. The balance of her fit into the park life is delicate. You feel like the slightest disruption can throw her off completely. And you’re right. The disruption comes and the gentle balance of her happiness is ruined.
And that’s quite a trick on Mansfield’s part.
The selection:
There were a number of people out this afternoon, far more than last Sunday. And the band sounded louder and gayer. That was because the Season had begun. For although the band played all the year round on Sundays, out of season it was never the same. If was like some one playing with only the family to listen; it didn’t care how it played if there weren’t any strangers present. Wasn’t the conductor wearing a new coat, too? She was sure it was new. He scraped with his foot and flapped his arms like a rooster about to crow, and the bandsmen sitting in the green rotunda blew out their cheeks and glared at the music. Now there came a little “flutey” bit – very pretty! – a little chain of bright drops. She was sure it would be repeated. It was; she lifted her head and smiled.
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